Senator John Tower was born in Houston, Texas and was graduated from Beaumont High School. In 1943 he enlisted in the Navy. He served in the Pacific and was discharged in 1946. Tower graduated from Southwestern University, attended the London School of Economics and Political Science, then earned a master's degree in political science from Southern Methodist University in 1953. He worked as a radio announcer (in Beaumont) and insurance salesman before becoming an associate professor of political science at Midwestern University in 1951. After an unsuccessful run for the legislature in 1954, Tower was again defeated in 1960, this time in his Senate race against Lyndon B. Johnson. Johnson ran simultaneously for the Vice-Presidency and the Senate. When Johnson vacated his Senate seat in 1961 to assume the vice-presidency, Tower defeated Bill Blakley in the special election, becoming the youngest man in the Senate. He was only 36 at the time, and there were 71 candidates in the race, but former Democrat Tower prevailed in the runoff, becoming Texas' first Republican senator since Reconstruction. Considered an ultraconservative, during his 23 years in the Senate, Tower became an authority in matters concerning national defense and the military. As defense spending rose to $211 billion a year, Tower brought prized defense contracts to Texas. In 1981, he became chairman of the Armed Services Committee. In 1984, Tower decided not to seek re-election. He worked instead as a highly-paid defense consultant. In 1985, President Reagan named Tower to the post of strategic arms negotiator with the Soviet Union. The following year, he appointed Tower to chair a bipartisan committee to investigate the Iran-contra scandal. George Bush nominated Tower for Secretary of Defense in 1989, but critics claimed he had too many ties to defense contractors. His was the first rejection of a cabinet nominee in more than 30 years. Tower later published a book, Consequences: A Personal and Political Memoir, which reflects his bitterness toward those who contributed to his defeat. Tower had a turbulent personal life, including two divorces. He had three daughters by his first wife, and his daughter Marian also died in the 1991 plane crash that killed her father in Brunswick, Georgia. However, Tower will be remembered by Texans for his long record of service not only to the Republican party but to the people who elected him.

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